Ballot



(No Model.)

L. C. LINDEMAN.

BALLOT.

No. 431,600. Patented July 8,1890.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS o. LINDEMAN, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BALLOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 431,600, dated July 8, 1890. Application filed December 7, 1889. Serial No. 332,906. (No model.)

To alZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS O. LINDEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn,in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ballots, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The objectof this improvement is to furnish to the voter in a single piece .or sheet and in convenient form all the party tickets voted on at an election, and yet to enable him to vote any one of them without disclosing either the ticket chosen or those rejected, securing at the same time a secret ballotone easily understood in its operation and which can be rapidly cast and more rapidly counted.

The invention consists in the peculiar multiplex ballot hereinafter -more particularly described, and then definitely pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a triple ballot made according to my improvement, intended to be used where there are three parties having candidates in the field; Fig. 2,0ne of the ballots as folded ready to be deposited. Figs. 3, at, and 5 are ballots shown on a smaller scale to indicate how the ballots are to be madewhen more or less than three parties are in the field.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by letter, A represents a triangular center piece, and B B B three ballots, each hav ing an ordinary ticket or list of the candidates of a party printed thereon, one for each party, as shown at C, and is divided from the center A by a row of perforations a, so that it may be readily separated therefrom. Each ballot consists of two parts I) and b,the former being the wider, and is provided with slits forming lips I)", by which the part b is engaged and held closed when folded over, so as to conceal the printed part of the ballot, as shown in Fig. 2.

If only two parties are in the field, then the ballot should be in the form shown in Fig. 3; if four parties, the ballot should be like Fig. 4, and if five parties like Fig. 5. The

center A should be a regular geometrical figure, with the ballots B all of exactly the same size and shape and set at equal distances apart around the center, so that it will be impossible to judge from the relative positions of the space left vacant by the removal of the ballot which partys ballot had been voted, which would not be the case with other arrangements of the ballots.

The ballot should of course be made of paper or such substance that there would be no possibility of the printed matter on its face showing through and without any printingor other marks on the back.

A paster sheet consisting of an exact facsimile of all the party tickets and with names of any authorized independent candidates, also having some blank pasters for scratching, may be provided with each multiple ballot.

It would be advisable that the ticket of each party be printed in a different color, which would enable even the most illiterate voter to vote a straight ticket without hesitation or assistance, as the color he would want to vote would be known to him; or if all tickets be printed in the same color a distinct emblem different for each party ticket such as an eagle, a flag, or a star on the ticketwould direct him to vote as he desires; further, that consecutive numbers be printed before the office designations, said numbers to be identical on the tickets of all parties and on the pastors to aid in locating the latter correctly.

The operation of voting will be as follows: On entering the polling-place, after checking the voter, he receives the ballot unfolded with pasters, goes to the isolated apartment, selects his ticket, tears it off, (does what pasting he desires,) closes the ballot selected in the form shown in Fig. 2, and also the two rejected ballots which are still attached to the center piece, and after being again checked at the poll he deposits the chosen ballot in a box marked Votes and drops the center piece with the two rejected ballots int-o aseparate box marked Rejected ballots. This, done under the eyes of the poll-oflicers, makes deception of any kind impossible, for these ballots can be scrutinized externally without divulging the vote in any way. The final count of the straight tickets, as well as of any scratched or split tickets, is therefore quickly It will be observed that the heads of all the ballots are nearest to the center of the sheet, and that all the ballots thus occupy the same relation to said center. -This last point I regard as important, for by this means the closest scrutiny of either the voted or rejected ballots when folded will fail to discover the particular ballot voted. The same result would accrue if all the ballots were printed with their heads outward. 7

What I claim as new is- 1. A multiplex ballot-sheet comprising two or more ballots of substantially similar shape printed on a single paper, and each ballot provided with means, as the lips I)", for securing said sectional ballot in a folded condition, and the heads of all the ballots occupying a similar position in relation to the center of the sheet, substantially as described.

2. A multiplex ballot having a center piece around which are grouped at equal. distances and radiating from the center piece a series of ballots, each ballot containing'a list of candidates, each ballot being readily detachable from center piece and cut so as to be adapted to fold over and shut out of view the printed matter thereon, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a center piece A, of the ballots B, partially separated therefrom by rows of perforations, and each ballot having a wide part b and a narrow part b, said wide part having lips 17', by which the ballot may be held in folded condition, substantially as describedand shown.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 6th day of December, 1889.

LOUIS O. LINDEMAN.

Witnesses:

EDGAR J. NATHAN, G. W. ENTRUP. 

